Bishop Kagan ordained, installed as seventh bishop of Bismarck

BISMARCK, N.D. (CNS) -- Bishop David D. Kagan ended his episcopal ordination and installation Mass Nov. 30 with an important message from a third-grader in his new Diocese of Bismarck.

Bishop Kagan

"Help bishops all over the world to make good lives and churches for us," a child named Sarah said in a prayer included with a note congratulating the priest of the Diocese of Rockford, Ill., when he was named a bishop in October.

The prayer closed a two-and-a-half-hour ceremony at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Bismarck that made Bishop Kagan the seventh bishop of Bismarck. He succeeded Bishop Paul A. Zipfel, who headed the diocese for 14 years and retired at the age of 76.

The ceremony also marked the first episcopal ordination at which Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, new apostolic nuncio to the United States, represented Pope Benedict XVI.

Named to replace the late Archbishop Pietro Sambi in October, Archbishop Vigano took up his duties in the United States in mid-November.

Archbishop John C. Nienstedt of St. Paul and Minneapolis served as principal consecrator and homilist for the Mass, with Bishop Zipfel and Bishop Thomas G. Doran of Rockford as co-consecrators.

Archbishop Nienstedt reminded the nation's newest Catholic bishop that he serves as "Christ's agent in the battle against evil."

He said threats against religious liberty, acts of terrorism, sexual promiscuity and pornography, "the horror of abortion" and the rising acceptability of euthanasia are all part of the "avalanche of evil that seems to overwhelm all of the reasons for our hope."

But Archbishop Nienstedt recalled Bishop Kagan's episcopal motto -- "Prefer nothing to the love of Christ" -- and said he was sure the new bishop would make Christ "the absolute priority of your heart."

"Never doubt that the Lord Jesus is with you," he said.

More than a dozen bishops from around the country, including his seminary classmate Bishop Wm. Michael Mulvey of the Diocese of Corpus Christi, and nearly 100 priests attended the ordination and installation Mass, which was broadcast throughout the diocese by live radio, television and Internet feeds.

The Diocese of Bismarck is made up of just under 60,000 Catholics in 98 parishes and one oratory. The ethnic composition of the Catholic community includes Germans, Hungarians, Poles, Irish, Norwegians, Bohemians and Native Americans.

Bishop Kagan, a 62-year-old native of Waukegan, Ill., had been serving as vicar general of the Rockford Diocese since 1995 at the time of his appointment. At the installation Mass, he called Rockford's Bishop Doran "my friend, my bishop and my mentor."

Among other posts he held in the Rockford Diocese were high school religion instructor, teacher of medical ethics, parish pastor and parochial administrator, judicial vicar, member of the diocesan tribunal, director of the communications office, member of the College of Consultors and chancellor.

In retirement, Bishop Zipfel plans to live in a new residence hall at the University of Mary in Bismarck. St. Joseph's Hall for Men is designed for students who have the desire to live in community and grow in faith, character and holiness, with an eye toward a possible vocation to the priesthood or religious life. Father Thomas Richter, vocations director for the Diocese of Bismarck, also lives in the residence hall.